BAR MITZVAH SPEECH

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To have all my family and friends here is very special to me.: 1
I have spent hours thinking about what to say today, what my Torah parshah talks about, what it means to me, and how itÂ’s teaching is important for the world today.: 2
My Torah parshah is called Pinchas.: 3
It talks about many different things.: 4
For example, it starts out telling the story of Pinchas.: 5
He was the grandson of Aaron, and he was rewarded for executing sinners.: 6
It also lists the names of the families in all of the Tribes and talks about some laws giving women inheritance rights.: 7
My maftir talks about the special parts of the service in the Temple dealing with one of my favorite holidays, Sukkot.: 8
Sukkot is a harvest festival and my parshah describes the offerings required for that holiday.: 9
My haftarah comes from Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet who warned the Jewish people that unless they followed AdonayÂ’s commandments, ruin would come to them.: 10
Talking to Rabbi Grossman about my parshah, we focused on the Temple sacrifices.: 11
A lot of people think animals were killed and other offerings burned and wasted.: 12
But, people now know that the offerings given by each person were actually later given to the poor and sick.: 13
People used to bring in a part of what they produced Â– if you were a shepherd, you brought in sheep; if you grew crops, you brought in part of your harvest.: 14
This was really the first organized way to help people who were struggling to survive.: 15
Not too many of us grow crops or tend sheep anymore, so how does this parshah apply to us?: 16
We still have the responsibility to help the poor and the sick Â– as Jews we are commanded to do this.: 17
We must take what we know how to do and use that to help people.: 18
We must take part of what we earn and our time to help people.: 19
For my bar mitzvah project, I used something I know, sign language, and with the RabbiÂ’s help, put down on paper something that has not been done before Â– a sign language teaching guide for some of the prayers we use everyday in Judaism.: 20
I plan to post some of them on the web and share them with our Temple.: 21
Temple Beth Solomon for the Deaf in Los Angeles has also asked me to share my project with them.: 22
I hope this guide will help other Deaf people connect with Judaism more easily.: 23
In addition, Rabbi Grossman and I plan to go to the Jewish Deaf Conference being held in Washington, D.C. next year where I will have the opportunity to lead services.: 24
Talking with my parents about my parshah, we talked about Pinchas and what was happening to the Jewish people during that time in history.: 25
Mom and Dad felt that the parshah talked about the importance of following commandments.: 26
I think that no matter which parshah I would have read, my Mom and Dad would have found a way for it to mean that following rules are important.: 27
But, theyÂ’re right of course.: 28
If the Jewish people donÂ’t follow the commandments, bad things happen to them, to their families, to their communities, and to their nation.: 29
When I think about what my parshah means to me, I remember how it tells about the daily offerings in the Temple.: 30
These services were performed everyday, always, consistently.: 31
Being consistent is powerful.: 32
When I first looked at the amount of work it would take to become a bar mitzvah Â– I said I couldnÂ’t do it.: 33
But everyday I worked on it.: 34
I never gave up.: 35
That is what my parshah says to me: Be consistent, do the right things everyday and powerful things can happen.: 36
I want to thank everyone for coming today.: 37
I especially want to thank the Rabbi for giving me something no one in my family ever experienced: fun while studying Torah.: 38
Thank you for teaching me in a language that I can understand.: 39
I want to thank the Hazzan for giving me a Â“crash courseÂ”.: 40
Now I can say Â“IÂ’ve got Rhythm!Â”: 41
Thanks to David Rosner, my tutor, whoÂ’s excitement for Judaism rubbed off on me.: 42
I want to thank my mom and dad for taking me to Hebrew lessons, helping me practice and helping with my projects.: 43
Thank you brother Aaron for practicing VÂ’shamru with me.: 44
And thanks to everyone who helped to make the service so beautiful.: 45
Finally, IÂ’d like to read a poem written by a deaf Rabbi and friend of Rabbi GrossmanÂ’s.: 46
IÂ’m your deaf child. Listen! I have things to tell you. Listen!: 47
My voice is not like yours, but Â– I see! I touch! I think! I feel!: 48
IÂ’m sure my heart is much like yours. Let me tell you.: 49
Take time. Listen!: 50
I will tell you what I touch And I will tell you what I think.: 51
If you listen to these things, thenÂ— IÂ’ll tell you the things of my heart.: 52
Take time. Make time. Listen! Listen!: 53

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Deck Info

Number of cards 53